This Time For Sure
by Lumen del Mari
Summary: Astrid Hofferson is no coward. She has had her eye on the auburn haired boy that sits in front of her in class all semester. The last class before finals, Astrid finally makes her move. Modern AU. Hiccstrid. Cover image is my own creation for the purpose of this oneshot.


**It has been a long time (five/six years) since I last wrote a fanfiction story (under a different profile/penname) so I hope I am not too rusty. I have spent a lot of time lurking since then though. I love HTTYD and I got this idea in my head yesterday while I was in class. I thought it was too adorable not to share. Enjoy!**

**Summary:**_ Astrid Hofferson is no coward. She has had her eye on the goofy auburn haired boy in her Norse Mythology class all semester. The last class before finals, Astrid finally makes her move. Modern AU. Hiccstrid._

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own the characters or the Viking lore referenced in this one-shot. I only own the cover image. _

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><p><strong>This Time For Sure<strong>

_This time, this time for sure_.

The lecture was over. Class was dismissed. All the other students had risen and were either chatting while gathering their things or silently filing out the classroom. Yet Astrid remained frozen in her seat. She could not believe it was over. It seemed like just yesterday she was taking her seat in the classroom for the very first time. Now, the semester was over, minus their final on Friday. Her eyes locked on the head of auburn hair in front of her. His movements were leisurely as usual. Lucky for her, he was in no hurry to leave today.

Swallowing thickly, Astrid rose from her seat and silently willed her heart to stop pounding so hard. After weeks—months of chickening out, today she had to say something. _It's not that difficult. All I have to do is say hello._ It was now or never. Her time had all but ran out. This was her last chance before they took their final. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she stepped down to his row. He did not even look up as she came to stand next to him. Her hand tightened nervously on the strap of her backpack. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled while repeating her mantra in her head. _This time, this time for sure_.

Then she opened her mouth to speak.

—

When Astrid signed up to take ENG385/Norse Mythology as an elective in the fall of her senior year of college, she did not expect much. How exciting could Viking lore be at nine in the morning anyhow? She anticipated fifty minute long boring lectures and hard to get through readings. She envisioned procrastinating on the assignments until the very last minute, ultimately making her to her want to pull her hair out. It would be just another 9am class that she would have trouble staying awake in three days a week.

All in all, a typical college course.

Gods, had she been so totally _wrong_.

The first day of class she took a seat in the in one of the middle rows on right side of the room, the side closest to the door. She was ten minutes early so Astrid got the pleasure of watching as various students made their way into the classroom and took their seats. Unsurprisingly, there were only about twenty students present in the massive forum sized classroom when their _Jötnunn _**[1] **of a professor entered and began to address them in a booming Irish brogue. Professor Stojan Haddock was a rather vast man, made up of one-hundred percent muscle and standing nearly six and a half feet tall. Astrid could not tell if he was smiling and grimacing at them with the massive red beard covering his face. He was rather intimidating, embodying the very aspects of the Vikings that they were sure to learn about.

As her attention was focused solely on the professor that very first day, Astrid barely noticed when a gangly student with russet colored hair literally tripped into the seat in front of her, earning an exasperated glance from the professor. She did not even think anything of it when _he_ turned around and passed her the attendance sheet, his lightly freckled face bright red. In fact it was a few classes in before she finally noticed him. One morning, he turned around and handed her the attendance sheet (as he always did), his face flushing (as it always did), but something clicked in her mind when she met his wide green eyes. Before she could think much of it, he had swiveled around in his chair and was facing the front again. She could see that the tips of his ears were crimson.

That was the first time Astrid truly noticed him.

After that, it was all she could do to _not_ notice him.

She noticed that instead of taking detailed notes during lectures, he was always doodling dragons in his notebook. They were actually good, really good. Perhaps he was an art major and taking the class as an elective as she was.

She noticed when he awkwardly stumbled all over his words the morning that Professor Haddock unexpectedly called on him in class during a discussion._Henrik_. His name was Henrik. Up until that point, she had not known his name and she had never heard him say a single word. His voice was slightly nasally but the tone was a low tenor. Somehow, it suited him in a way she could not quite explain.

She noticed that occasionally he would make sarcastic commentaries under his breath about parts of the lecture or something Professor Haddock said. He was able to imitate their professor's brogue perfectly. She wondered if he even knew how many times she had to clamp her hand over her mouth or bite on her fist to keep a snort of laughter from escaping when he made a particularly good comment.

She noticed that Henrik was actually very attractive. She was almost positive it was pathetic how often she zoned out in class, chin rested in hand, just gazing at him. Sure, he was tall and lanky, but he was not completely wimpy. He had firm muscles in his arms and broad shoulders that Astrid often found herself shamelessly daydreaming about during class. He had a wonderfully sharp jaw that could cut glass. She could not help imagining running her fingers along that perfect jawline. Then there was his hair. She really liked his perfectly messy, 'I-don't-give-a-shit, I-woke-up-like-this' auburn hair.

Before, Astrid had never been one to hang around after class. The first two weeks of class, she was the first one out the door when class was over at 9:50am, immediately heading over to the library café to grab coffee and bunch with her roommate, Regina "Ruff" Thorston and Ruff's boyfriend, Fisher "Fish" Ingerman. However as time went on, Astrid found herself lagging behind in class. Henrik usually took his time gathering his things together after class and sometimes he even stayed longer to speak with Professor Haddock. Astrid began taking her time packing up as well, all the while trying to muster the courage to say something to him. Yet every time the opportunity to talk to him arose, Astrid found herself with nothing to say, or nothing good anyway.

"_Hey Henrik, I sit behind you in class and I noticed that you draw a lot of dragons. I think that's pretty cool. Oh, and by the way, you are ridiculously attractive. Would you want to go get coffee with me?" _

It was not long before Ruff and Fish—well, mainly Ruff—began to notice something was going on.

"You're acting weird. Well, weirder." Her roommate informed her.

Astrid had tried to deny it but eventually, she admitted to that there was a really cute boy in her Norse mythology class that had captured her attention. In retrospect, she should have known Ruff would be curious. It was not every day that _the_ Astrid Hofferson admitted to having a crush, especially on someone she had not even spoken to. Astrid had been horrified the day that she walked out of class, trailing after Henrik, only to find that her friends were waiting outside for her. That day, Ruff had loudly _and_ publically called Astrid out on checking out Henrik's ass. Astrid was pretty certain Henrik heard too because his face turned six shades darker than normal and he had scurried out of the hallway as if something his pants were on fire.

He was not able to look her in the eye when he passed her the sign-in sheet after that.

She was mortified.

—

"This time, this time for sure."

"Really, Astrid?"

Astrid turned from the mirror to glower at her roommate as she stood smirking in the doorway to their shared bathroom. After finding out about her crush on Henrik, Ruff had mercilessly teased her about it all semester and most recently, about how Astrid was too _chicken_ to do anything about it. That was the last straw. Astrid was no coward. She was fearless Astrid Hofferson—perfectionist, straight-A student, record setting sprinter—the kind of girl who would not think twice about beating someone to a pulp if they looked at her the wrong way. She was not easily scared or one to back down from a challenge. Yet there was something about Henrik and his goofy gap toothed grin and too big green eyes that made her palms sweat and her mouth run dry.

"Gods Astrid, you look like you're about to throw up."

Astrid rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Ruff. That is exactly what I needed to hear."

"Need a little liquid courage?" Her roommate suggested with a raised eyebrow. "There is some cheap vodka in the fridge that my brother left here last weekend."

"I am _not_ taking a shot before I go to class." Astrid replied, tossing her long braid over her shoulder with a dramatic huff.

Ruff shrugged, clearly not bothered by Astrid's snarky tone. "Suit yourself."

"I can do this." Astrid insisted.

"Yup."

"He's just a guy."

"Right."

Astrid suddenly sighed. Her bravado fell away as she fiddled with the end of her braid nervously. "I am pathetic, aren't I?"

"You aren't pathetic, Astrid." Ruff replied, her expression softening in a rare moment of empathy. "You just have a crush on the kid, that's completely normal. You just need to stop thinking so much and just _go_ for it. Woman up! Bat those eyelashes, push out those tits, and make that boy trip over his feet."

Before she could stop herself she muttered, "Foot."

"What?" Ruff was confused.

"He's an amputee. He wears a prosthetic on his left foot."

"Oh."

—

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Astrid stepped down to his row. He did not even look up as she came to stand next to him. Her hand tightened nervously on the strap of her backpack. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled while repeating her mantra in her head. _This time, this time for sure_.

Then she opened her mouth to speak.

"Uh, hi?"

She mentally cringed at how stupid the words sounded leaving her mouth. Despite that, they had their desired effect because Henrik's head shot up, his green eyes locked on her standing in front of him before they widened in surprise. He quickly glanced around, as if to make sure she was actually talking to him and not someone else.

"Are you talking to me?" He asked in his usual nasally tone.

Astrid smiled nervously at him and nodded.

Henrik looked confused for several moments before he suddenly frowned, "Did I borrow a pencil from you or something?" Before she could answer, he continued babbling and smacked a hand to his forehead. "Oh geez! I did, didn't I? A couple weeks ago? I-I forgot, I'm sorry." Her brows furrowed in confusion as he rummaged around in his backpack for a moment before pulling out a blue ink pen. "I'm sorry, uh, I don't think I have your pencil on me. I have a pen though! D-do you like pens?"

"Uh yeah, I like pens."

Of all the ways she imagined this conversation going, this was certainly not one of them.

He awkwardly thrust the pen out towards her, a look of childish guilt on his face. Astrid struggled to keep her laughter contained at the ridiculousness of the situation. Her nervous grip on her backpack strap loosed completely as she reached out to accept the pen he was offering her, tucking it into the back pocket of her jeans. She could not help but think he looked entirely too attractive, biting his bottom lip the way he was.

"Thank you…" Astrid trailed off, wanting him to introduce himself.

"Henrik, Henrik Haddock." He supplied. "But everyone calls me Hiccup."

Hiccup.

She liked the sound of that.

It sounded even more fitting than Henrik.

_Hiccup_ _Haddock_.

Wait.

It finally registered with her. "Haddock? As in like Professor Haddock?"

Hiccup began to laugh uneasily. "Yeah, uh, surprise? That's my dad. Don't we share a striking resemblance?"

He attempted to puff out his chest to make himself appear burlier, like the Professor. She supposed it made sense. They had the same facial structure and dark auburn hair. It also explained how he was so good at copying the professor's accent. He undoubtedly had a lot of practice. A soft giggle escaped her lips. Surprised, she clamped a hand over her mouth. Astrid Hofferson did not _giggle_. She was too tough for that. If Ruff heard, she would never let her live it down. Yet Astrid could not find it within herself to be too upset about it considering it was Hiccup who caused it. He had made her laugh. He was funny. Meanwhile, Hiccup's posture had returned to normal and he was smiling at her. A real smile, gap toothed and all. Her heart melted. He was even more adorable than she originally thought. She subtly glanced over at the clock on the wall, noting that students from the next class would surely start coming in any minute, consequently breaking the spell that had settled over the two of them. Astrid was torn. Now that she finally was talking to him, she did not want to stop.

She needed more time.

She needed to see him smile like that again.

"You know, Hiccup…" Astrid started in a flirty tone that surprised even her. "I can think of another way that you can make up for that stolen pencil."

Hiccup's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, unsure as to what she was implying. He immediately began sputtering incoherent nonsense. "I—uh, you, w-what?"

"Do you like coffee?" She asked innocently.

—

As he pressed her back against the door of her dorm, his hot, breathy kisses ravaging her lips, Astrid reasoned that there was nothing better than kissing Hiccup Haddock. _Nothing_. Honestly, she questioned why the Hel they had not done this sooner. Over the past couple months, Hiccup had gone from being the unattainable boy who sat in front of her in class to her best friend and more recently, her boyfriend. Never in her life had she been so thankful for a supposedly stolen pencil. She would have tried to get him to get coffee with her either way but…

She suddenly giggled into Hiccup's insistent kiss.

Hiccup pulled back slightly and softly brushed her long bangs from her face. "What's so funny, milady?"

"Do you want to know something really funny?"

"Sure."

Astrid leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I never loaned you a pencil."

For a moment, Hiccup's wandering hands ceased and his jaw went slack. "What?"

"But I'm sure as Hel glad you thought I did."

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><p><strong>[1]<strong> The Jötnar are a race of beings in Norse mythology known for their large size, sometimes referred to as giants.

Also, in case anyone is interested, Stojan, the name I chose to replace Stoick is the Macedonian/Serbian/Croatian/Slovene form of the name Stoyan. The name Stoyan is derived from the Bulgarian word _стоя,_ or stoya, which means "to stand" or "to stay." As such, not only does Stojan just sound cool, but it is rather fitting for Stoick's character. Hiccup's name "Henrik" was chosen because it was the closest sounding name to "Hiccup" I could find while still maintaining that Northern European origin. Ruff and Fish's names were picked out at random by names that simply sounded similar to their Canon names.


End file.
